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 23 May, Wednesday - Relief? Satisfaction? Happiness? Bewilderment? Confusion?
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Wednesday, 23 May 2007 (Day 33) - Rome. It's not easy to explain what one feels after arriving at their destination following 33 days on the road and more than 900 kilometers walked.
Relief? Satisfaction? Happiness? Bewilderment? Confusion? Yes.
I arrived in Piazza San Pietro at 11:30 to find a zillion people gathered listening to the Pope give his weekly audience. Had I planned it the timing couldn't have been better, or worse if you were hoping to find some solitude among Bernini's columns. The scope of my walk and my project was never strictly linked to religion (though if I play a small role in improving the Via Francigena I will have done so for all, including the religious), but there was a certain appeal to arriving and finding all these people.
Now what? You've come all this way and then all of a sudden it's over. Well almost over. There are stamps on the credential to be had and certificates to be picked up in the office set up to receive pilgrims. At this point I was together with Carl and Claire, we had separated in the last few kilometers before San Pietro and then meet again in the piazza. Then of course there was a super gelato at Giolitti. I had been talking this place up to the Swiss for the better part of a week as we baked under the sun of Northern Lazio so it was key to my credibility to find the quality as good as ever.
Next up, stop at the offices of Civita in Piazza Venezia to say hello to Gianfranco Imperatori and other people at the cultural association I met and walked with on Sunday. Piercarlo Rampini, the person Italy's cultural minister Francesco Rutelli put in charge of the Via Francigena, was there as well and we discussed what needs to be done to develop the route in such to make it accessible to more people.
There is much to be done and the government must play a leading role if it wants this to become a tool to diffuse Italian and European culture. Unfortunately, in Italy often there is more talk than action (hence the national expression: between what is said and what is done lies the sea).
Yet I maintain a fundamentally positive view on the world, global warming being the exception, and I can almost imagine a day ten years from now when many thousands of pilgrims - religious and non - are walking together to Rome on wonderful dirt paths as they discuss the state of world, the beautiful spring flowers one sees on the Via Francigena and 16th Century Italian painting.
That's it for now, but not for this blog. Please stay tuned as I continue to push the cause of the Via Francigena while eating my way across Italy. I'm also preparing my book on the experience so if you have any thoughts on what needs to be in there please let me know.
Tip for the day: pompelmo roso (pink grapefruit)gelato at Giolitti near the Pantheon and Montecitorio. I can't say this is the best gelateria in Rome because I haven't tried them all, but if you are anywhere between Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps this is as good a bet as you are going to get.
Trip details: La Storta to Rome, 14.3 K. Altitude change: 110 meters up and 238 meters down. Total walked: 931.5 K.
State of the route: the Cassia and then the Via Trionfale (another busy road) into Rome. It's asphalt and it's busy non-stop, but to be expected on the way into a city as big as Rome. There are sidewalks about 75 percent of the way (I'm guessing), but the rest is quite dangerous and you'd have to be crazy to walk it if you weren't doing the Via Francigena.
Weather report: sweltering, 36 degrees C at noon in Piazza San Pietro.
Medical report: who cares, I made it!
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 With Claire and Carl with our first view of Rome |
 Piazza San Pietro 11:45 |
 Piazza San Pietro |
 Are all these people here for me? |
 With Claire and Carl |
 On the terrace of Civita |
 With the crew at Civita |
 View from the terrace |
 Finally |
 Sat 2000 television crew (Guendalina, Francesco, Stefano, Nando) |
 Stefano and Guendalina |
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Supporting the Project: |
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In collaboration with: |
Assessorato al Turismo e alle Attività Termali della Provincia di Pavia |
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Viaggiare in Puglia |
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L'Arte di Vivere
con Lentezza |
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